Don't rely on the CIO to transform a company, says KPMG's Lisa Heneghan

The KPMG CDO speaks about blending business and tech; the importance of delegation; and why your current CTO might be your next CEO

IT has evolved in the last decade. From lumping everything to do with tech under an all-encompassing CIO role, there are now C-suite positions for every part of the industry: Data, Data Protection, Digital, Information, Information Security, Risk, Technology - to say nothing of the various Director, Head and Lead roles.

The key takeaway, says KPMG's Chief Digital Officer Lisa Heneghan, is that there is no one-size-fits-all.

"There's not a playbook any more in my mind for what a good CIO is, because it really will vary depending on the organisation.

"In some organisations, a CIO does all the things that I would do as Chief Digital Officer, as well as the operational run of technology. In other organisations you are seeing the CIO role being more framed around what we have today and running what we have today, and giving the tools for people to work - but less around the transformation of tomorrow."

Heneghan's own role is a fairly new one, and like the CIO role it is still evolving. When she became CDO four years ago, there was no clear definition of what that meant. To an extent that's still the case: she has a Chief Data Officer, Head of Technology Risk, a CIO and several CTOs reporting to her, as well as having direct oversight of the company's digital transformation; but the position could be different in every company. The key part is a mandate to look across all technology in the firm.

I firmly believe that a CIO or a CDO cannot transform a company

"[That is] our client-facing technology, our internal technology, how we transform the workplace for our people, how we transform our client experience. Therefore, the role needs to be grounded in the business.

"You need to be somebody who comes from the business, who understands the business that you're in, who also then has a good enough understanding of technology and the operational/organisational construct behind technology to be able to challenge and apply it to your business."

That's especially important when it comes to transformation. This is often a business-driven and technology-led process, but not always from the very top of the tech totem pole. In fact, Heneghan says "I firmly believe that a CIO or a CDO cannot transform a company."

She explains, "An organisation needs to transform itself. For me, the key is, ‘How do you educate and put in the hands of all elements of the business, that concept that they need to think in that way?' They need to look at their roadmap for their bit of the business, which is why CTOs is something I'm passionate about."

KPMG has found success in recruiting CTOs from the business rather than solely from promoting internally in IT.

"A CTO is somebody who needs to understand the business that they're in. If we have one in Audit and one in Deals, they're very different people who understand that bit of the business, but they also need to be technologists so they can truly challenge [established thought]. And they need to be in a senior, responsible role, so they are reporting into the leadership of that function. So, they have the ability to drive change, and to also understand the strategy. That's made a massive difference for us, because in the past everybody looked to IT to ask ‘Well, where are you transforming us?' You can't do it."

Blending business and technology

At the end of the day, the decision about where to pull leadership talent from - business or tech - will depend on the company's needs. KPMG has done both: in departments like Audit, where understanding how the business side works and what it delivers is very important, it makes sense to recruit from existing staff. In consulting or advisory roles where technology is key, understanding how IT and how it is used is key.

"I don't think there's one right answer. It's about where you are in your transformation journey, or your maturity, and therefore what's the most important skill for these people to have to drive change?"

The CIO role continues to evolve, and so does technology leadership overall. In the future, Heneghan expects to see more CEOs coming from the technology side of the business, "because technology is now so intrinsic in everything."

"The opportunities will be there to go absolutely the other way [from tech to business leadership], because in order to be an agile business that supports your customers or clients, you have to intrinsically understand your value chain and how technology applies.

"It's not acceptable for any of the C-suite of a business not to have enough understanding of technology. The opportunity will be great, and I think it's exciting."